1. PICTURE PICTURE Resource Centre (PRC)
Best Practices for Urban Cultural Tourism
Edith Besson
Krassimira Paskaleva
ITAS – Karlsruhe Research Centre, Germany

2. Objectives of the Resource Centre
To present an inventory of successful cultural tourism strategies in a selection of European cities, aimed to:
Demonstrate practical ways on how CT stakeholders can improve practice;
Help project users to understand how urban governance relates to local contexts;
Disseminate and valorise PICTURE outcomes in user-friendly fashion;
Encourage cities to learn from other successful experiences.

3. What is a ‘best practice’?
We define a cultural tourism best practice as:
An experience that has been analysed and valued as such by European or international bodies and/ or scientific sources;
BUT ALSO:
Innovative initiatives identified as part of PICTURE research (case studies) and partners’ experience from previous projects
Exemplary character and level of compliance with PICTURE main criteria for good management of urban cultural tourism

4. Key sources
1. European and International best practice databases, including:
UN-Habitat Best practices Database
UNECE good practice handbook
EC, DG Enterprise-Tourism Unit studies
EC, Inforegio Success Stories Database
PICTURE resources:
Case studies (e.g. Belfast CT strategy, Avila tourism Observatory, Siracusa integrated territorial project…)
PICTURE partners’ expert experience

5. PICTURE Criteria and Best Practice Format 1/2
Scale: Historical/ Centre/District/ Urban/Metropolitan/ Regional/ National/ Transnational Stage of tourism development: Beginning/ Growing/ Mature/ Declining Main objective: Urban and/or regional development/Balanced tourism growth/ Tourism Quality Management/Improve urban quality of life/Destination promotion.
Categories of effects:
Effects on urban governance
Cultural tourism strategy
Integrated urban planning
Sustainable partnerships
Stakeholder participation
Steering government
Destinations management
Regional cooperation
Networks of cities
Effects on quality of life
Built heritage diversity
Cultural practices and representations
Urban economies
Environment
Social life, local values and traditions

6. PICTURE Criteria and Best Practice Format 2/2
41 Best practices are currently available to users in the PICTURE resource centre, and presented following the following format:
A downloadable page from / Resource centre section.
Relevant criteria
Best Practice description
Source(s) and/ or contact name
Web Link(s) for additional information

7. List of Best Practices available in PRC 1/4
Best practice 1: Aire 198. A network of urban areas (Angoulême, Niort, La Rochelle, Poitiers), France.
Best Practice 2: Belfast City Council Cultural Tourism Strategy, Northern Ireland, UK
Best practice 3: Fidenza Tourism Board, Italy
Best practice 4: Tourism Observatory of Avila, Spain.
Best practice 5: Beaune, the exceptional role of a tourism office in boosting tourism activity.
Best practice 6: ‘First Stop York’ Tourism partnership, UK.
Best Practice 7: Calvia Agenda Local 21, Mallorca, Spain.
Best Practice 8: The European Cities Tourism (ECT) network.
Best practice 9: “European Association of cities along the Via Francigena”.
Best practice 10: Provins, decades of realistic tourism strategy, France.
Best practice 11: SuVoT project – SUstainable & VOcational Tourism, Interreg IIIC

8. List of Best Practices available in PRC 2/4
Best practice 12: Cambridge Tourism Forum, UK
Best practice 13: “Red de Juderías”, Spain.
Best practice 14: URBACT – MEDINT project “Integrated approach in Mediterranean local development” and PICTURE Project: the experience of local forums, Syracuse, Italy.
Best practice 15: “Mozart ways”.
Best practice 16: Protection and rehabilitation of the archaeological ensemble of Tarragona, Spain
Best practice 17: Lucca Strategic Plan, Italy
Best practice 18: “The Routes of the Olive Tree”
Best practice 19: Developing databases for Historic Tours, English Heritage, UK
Best practice 20: Chantilly. Implementation of PPPs in order to manage a private cultural heritage.
Best Practice 21: Control and Management of the numbers of visitors in Venice, Italy.

9. List of Best Practices available in PRC 3/4
Best Practice 22: Managing traffic flows and trying to preserve intangible atmosphere in Bruges, Belgium
Best practice 23: Atelier 231 in Sotteville, France
Best practice 24: Protection and rehabilitation of the Lorca, Spain
Best practice 25: Integrated Territorial Project “Ecomuseum of the Mediterranean”, Syracuse, Italy
Best practice 26: Ornans, a city in an obvious cultural network, France.
Best practice 27: “El legado andalusí”, Spain.
Best practice 28: Fougères, the right cultural priority for a tourism development, France
Best practice 29: Bergen Tourist Board, Norvay.
Best practice 30: Access to Historic Buildings and Landscapes: the English Heritage guidelines
Best practice 31: Extremadura regional strategy, Spain
Best Practice 32: Regeneration of the Völklingen steelworks site, Germany

10. List of Best Practices available in PRC 4/4
Best practice 33: Malaga’s URBAN programme to improve resident and tourist services, Spain
Best practice 34: Conservation of the Urban Cultural Heritage and Regional Partnerships: The BALCON project, Sweden.
Best practice 35: Historic City of Ourense, Spain
Best practice 36: Hadrian’s Wall Sustainable Tourism Partnership, United Kingdom.
Best practice 37: Protection and rehabilitation of the Historical World Heritage, Santiago, Spain
Best practice 38: The Eichsfeld regional strategy, Germany
Best practice 39: Pays Cathare, France
Best practice 40: Urban I in Rotterdam
Best practice 41: Urban I in Bremen, Germany

11. Types of best practices
Scale*: Historical centres 4, District 4, Urban 19, Metropolitan 1, Regional 7, National 2, Transnational 8
Stage*: Beginning 10, Growing 15, Mature 15, Declining 3
Main objective*: urban and/or regional development 22 , Balanced tourism growth 7, Tourism quality management 11, Improve urban quality of life 10, Destination promotion 13.
* Some best practice descriptions list more than one criteria, hence the total is not 41

12. Thank you very much for your attention!
Further steps
The Resource Centre will continue to evolve until the end of the PICTURE project!
We invite cities and other cultural tourism stakeholders to submit Best Practices Cases to enrich the PRC until December 8, 2006
Contact:
Thank you very much for your attention!